Thursday 18 February 2010 19.10 EST
First published on Thursday 18 February 2010 19.10 EST

Morning Craig, you're most famous for V8 Supercars in Australia but you also tried your hand at Formula 3000. How did the two compare? Formula 3000 vehicles are pure race cars, purely designed for racing, while the V8 Supercars here in Australia, we take a road car and we turn it into a race car. There's less downforce in a V8 so we can powerslide around corners. If you tried to do that in an openwheeler you'd probably be off the track pretty quick.

From Small Talk's 73 seconds of research, we understand that V8 races often end up in punch-ups between opposing sets of boozed up fans. Is F1 sterile compared to your sport? Well, I suppose for us the biggest difference is the category makes the drivers accessible to the fans, so the fans can come into our base, look into our garages, start walking around the back of the pits, they can rub shoulders with us and walk with us from function to function. They can basically be at our drivers door as we strap ourselves in.

Under FIA directions, Small Talk is legally obliged to ask you whether Michael Schumacher's return to racing is the right decision. I think it's very difficult for race drivers to just quit completely. When you're racing you want to have that adrenaline rush forever. Everyone around the world will be very excited by Michael's return, very keen to watch his progress, knowing he was the benchmark when he retired. There are new drivers, new technology since then and he has to get his head around it and get up to speed with all that.

What's the scariest track you've ever raced on? The Nürburgring? Daytona? That dead hard rainbow one off Super Mario Kart? [Thoughtful] Hmmm... good question. Here in Australia probably Bathurst, it's a 1000km race and there's a 175-metre ascent and descent on every lap.

What are you like as a passenger if your wife is driving you to the supermarket to step up on Tim Tams? Ah mate, one of those things with driving race cars is you get a greater awareness of things around you, more enhanced than other drivers. I see things coming and get a bit anxious. My wife always complains that I make comments about her driving, or overtaking someone, or racing lines, or giving directions on where to go.

Racing lines? On the way to the shop? Yes Natalie, my wife, has done a few races and she entered two events and won them both, but she's more keen on drag racing than supercar racing. She loves the speed and adrenaline rush of going fast, but when I first met her she was very into drag racing. I've tried to get her into supercars as the real art is stopping and turning corners.

Eric Bana enjoys racing cars and being a fellow Australian you're obviously best friends with him. Have you ever raced him? [Urgently] No! No! But I've have done some stuff with him, he's definitely got that boyish urge to drive a race car really fast, or any car really fast. He's done a few rally style events, and he's definitely got that racing instinct.

And recently you've joined top kids TV animation Roary the Racing Car as the voice of [Small Talk flicks through PR gumf] Conrod the V8. That's right, Small Talk. They wanted to introduce an Australian character into the Roary episodes and I was lucky enough to be asked. They wanted him to be a bit of an Aussie battler.

Like Shane Warne but with an exhaust pipe coming out of his bum? [Chuckling] I had no mobile phone but it was that style it was the more Australian born occa flavour to it. When they were doing the recordings they sometimes wanted a few more "Ya beauty" and "Good on ya, mate" phrases in there. My daughter thinks it's quite humorous to see a cartoon character of a race car running around with my voice coming out of it.

What's the strangest request you've ever had from a fan? [Straight away] Signing a glass eye. This guy had eight glass eyes with different logos imprinted on them. He got me to sign across the Holden logo – I was racing for them at the time. He showed up the next day with it in place in his eyesocket. It caught me by surprise because most of the time motor-racing people sign clothing, foreheads, arms or programmes. Something normal!

When you're in your car, what's playing on the stereo. AC/DC. I've followed them since I was a kid. I just love their music it brings back childhood memories.

And now for some questions promoting national stereotypes. Who would win in a fight between a great white shark and a crocodile? That's a good one, Small Talk. I would put my money on the crocodile. He's thick skinned and very hard. If he got hold of a shark he'd probably put it in a death roll.

And you have to spend the weekend with one of the Minogue sisters. Who's it going to be? Kylie for sure. She has a better voice. Nothing against Dannii but I suppose one of those old cliches of watching Kylie grow up in Neighbours.

And have you ever thrown a shrimp on a barbie? [Excited] Yes! That's actually a common factor in our household. We have two barbecues at home and we're only 40 minutes from the ocean. We have a little seafood van that comes into our town and we buy prawns, shrimps, fish, crabs, all kinds of seafood.

Top Aussie-ing Craig, on that note we'll let you go. No worries, Small Talk. Goodbye.